Terms and conditions of use
Covered vase
(c. 1755)
Medium
porcelain (soft-paste)
Measurements
(a-b) 22.6 × 11.5 × 11.7 cm (overall)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Patricia Begg OAM Bequest, 2024
© Public Domain
Gallery location
17th & 18th Century Decorative Arts & Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
This covered vase is ornamented with a profusion of individually modelled flowers representing a variety of plants, which have been applied over the body and encrusted into a mound over the cover. Completely unrelated to this ornament is the form of the vase, which exemplifies the manner in which scrolling Rococo ornament could encompass the entire form of an object. The vase is effectively a three-dimensional realisation of a Rococo cartouche, a flat ornament often encountered in architecture. The reserves on the front and back of the vase are jarringly decorated with conventional birds and landscapes, imagery that is at odds with the fluid, organic conception of the vase shape, not to mention the applied floral ornament, a feature often encountered in English Rococo design.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Staffordshire, England
Accession Number
2024.347.a-b
Department
International Decorative Arts